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Morning Hunt

I went right back to the stand where I decoyed the big boy yesterday morning. I saw a buck at first light but it was too dark to identify what he was. A doe and two fawns came by at 7:20 and with the exception of a small 8pt, that was all I saw all morning. That is, until 10:15 AM.

I caught movement a quarter mile to the East where a buck was obviously tending a doe. I recognized the buck as one I had seen yesterday. The doe busted out of the plumb thicket and suddenly there were two bucks chasing her. One of them grunted with every step. I pulled up my binoculars and was rocked to the core. He was a mainframe 12 with broken brows and 30" main beams. I put his spread at 23 inches. A true giant and once in a lifetime buck. I immediately started to shake uncontrollably. I had never seen anything even remotely as big as this buck.

The doe ran clear across the meadow and entered the woods 20 yards behind me on one of two main trails. The bucks were stopped at 30 yards watching her. I thought about my video camera for one second and decided this was too important to mess up by trying to film. I left the camera off. The doe moved into the clear and caught my wind. The bucks were behind me at 20 yards in thick brush. All three deer became nervous after the doe caught me. She ran off and the bucks moved after her. The giant buck caught my wind too and stopped directly behind a tree at 25 yards. If he only stopped 1 yard sooner I may have killed him. He then continued forward and I went "Nerrrrr" with my voice. He stopped at 35 yards but all I had was a butt shot. I was now at full draw with my 30 pin slightly high on his butt. I was tempted to take a stupid shot - after all a buck this magnificent will only be in my sight housing once in my life. I couldn't do it. I hoped he would turn right but he ran straight ahead along with the other buck and I never saw him again. As I type this I am still shook up. I mean, this thing didn't look real. It was like one of those genetic farm-raised freaks. I've seen 180's here and this buck made it look puny.

Shortly after this, a 145" 10 walked right by my stand and made a scrape. I never even turned on my camera. I was still in shock from how close I was to killing a booner.

Afternoon Hunt

I was tempted to stay in my morning stand all day but the wind was not good and I was educating a lot of bucks here. So I texted Kent to pick me up at 11. We discussed options and we finally settled on the Barbie stand South of town. I had 5 does and one small buck chasing them but that was it.

My afternoon hunt was disappointing. I could see for miles and nothing was moving down that end of the ranch.

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